Vegetarian spiders. Like panthers.

Bug-watchers at the 12th International Behavioral Ecology Congress have brought the world’s attention (and the attention of the fine bloggers at Greenupgrader.com) to a previously unknown species of spider. Unlike their carnivorous cousins, the Mexican Acacia Tree Jumping Spiders (which have the best Latin name I’ve seen, Bagheera kiplingi) prefer dining on salads. And their neighbors’ babies:

Villanova scientist Christopher Meehan explained that a certain population of this Mexican Jumping spider spends its life in the Mexican Acacia tree, feeding on the tree and evading its vigilant ant neighbors who also utilize the tree for food. The spider is also known to steal ant larvae from passing ants, but scientists found by watching the arachnid, that out of 140 meals they dined solely on vegetation 136 times.

Follow the link for alarming pictures.

Entered on 19 August 2008 at 6:20 in the Science file | Care to make an observation? | Print Print

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